Birds

A Reflection on Natural History (Part 2)

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Before the Scientific Revolution, any attempt to ascribe order to nature was largely rooted in the study of holy texts, rather than in the nature of minerals and organisms themselves. The development of natural history as an observational science in the seventeenth century changed this entirely and lives on to be a crucial element in the study of living organisms today.

It has become popular in the modern era to dismiss natural history as “mere” classification, lacking empirical methods, but this could not be further from the truth. Accurate classification is an essential element of understanding the natural world. There is not a more essential answer to the question “what is x?” than to give the classification of x, i.e. put it in relation to other living beings. Such an indefinite number of characteristics can be inferred by an organism’s taxonomic standing alone that this serves as a sort of shortcut to ripping individual organisms to shreds and painstakingly having to analyze and reanalyze the constituent parts of each individual organism. While an understanding of the anatomy of individuals within a species is of interest to some and has intrinsic value, the understanding of organisms in context with other similar and dissimilar organisms also has value. For those with questions unconcerned with the minutia of differences between individuals and who are focused with broader themes in evolution or organismal biology, a system of classification serves as a heuristic to understanding basic aspects of the organism at hand in relation to its own or other groups of organisms. Today, rather than defining natural groups by shared characteristics, these characteristics aid in the diagnoses of natural groups, which rather are defined by evolutionary relatedness. Still a need for the accurate classification of organisms persists.

Natural history as an observational rather than experimental science is not an outdated way of conducting zoology, ecology, or botany. Research lab settings are artificial and for those concerned with ethology, ecology, and observational field studies are crucial for comprehending the life history and behavior of animals and plants. Such observational studies have formed the bedrock of the modern understandings of these subjects. Even experimental studies themselves are inspired by observational studies after all.

Carolina Parakeet specimens are among the irreplaceable extinct specimens held in the Tetrapod Collection. (Photo Credit: Chelsea Hothem 2016)

Carolina Parakeet specimens are among the irreplaceable extinct specimens held in the Tetrapod Collection. (Photo Credit: Chelsea Hothem 2016)

Natural history museums and the specimens they contain also retain both intrinsic and practical value. Far from ‘mere’ cabinets of curiosities, natural history specimens serve as physical records of organisms, vouchers, from throughout history. The tags of these specimens usually record the location where the specimen was collected, the date, the stomach contents of the organism (for animals), pre-preparation measurements, the name of the collector, the cause of death, and many other bits of information that prove invaluable for research. Each specimen is comparable to a library book brimming with information that can inform future scientists on topics ranging from biodiversity, species distribution, the changes in species over time, impacts of humans over time, genetic information, historic climates, and conservation.

A young bluebird (Sialia sialis) that died after being entangled in this plastic. This is an unfortunate reminder that what humans do with their trash has repercussions for other species.This specimen was prepared by Tetrapod Curatorial Assistant, Grant Terrell and is now housed in the Museum of Biological Diversity’s Tetrapod Collection. (Photo: Grant Terrell, 2016)

A young bluebird (Sialia sialis) that died after being entangled in this plastic. This is an unfortunate reminder that what humans do with their trash has repercussions for other species.This specimen was prepared by Tetrapod Curatorial Assistant, Grant Terrell and is now housed in the Museum of Biological Diversity’s Tetrapod Collection. (Photo: Grant Terrell, 2016)

A modern example of the utility of museum collections is the application of DDT and its effects on North American birds. Chemicals within DDT were responsible for the terminal thinning of eggshells in birds exposed to the pesticide. Not until contemporary eggs could be compared with eggs in museum collections, were scientists able to confirm why avian populations were suffering.  If naturalists had not been consistently collecting eggs from North American bird species, humans may have continued using DDT without fully understanding its effects on non-targeted species. The value of a particular specimen only increases with time. This lesson can effortlessly be learned after only a single encounter with a specimen of a recently extinct species such as the Passenger Pigeon. Individuals within museum collections and the observations of naturalists are now all that remain for researchers with questions about such species. The advent of new technologies only increases the value of the work of naturalists such as Sir Hans Sloane. Researchers now sequence the DNA of specimens and compare it to that of modern individuals. It is unknowable what advances may further enhance the value of the study of natural history.

Thus it is very important to ensure preservation of specimens for future generations. Please support our efforts through our current fundraiser.

About the Author: Grant Terrell is a second year student at the Ohio State University who is currently double-majoring in Evolution & Ecology and History. He currently works as a Curatorial Assistant in the Tetrapod Collection of the Museum of Biological Diversity and focuses on Ornithology.

About the Author: Grant Terrell is a second year student at the Ohio State University who is currently double-majoring in Evolution & Ecology and History. He currently works as a Curatorial Assistant in the Tetrapod Collection of the Museum of Biological Diversity and focuses on Ornithology.

Works Cited

Huxley, Robert. The Great Naturalists. London: Thames & Hudson, 2007. Print.

Otter, Christopher. “Natural History.” History 3712. The Ohio State University Main Campus, Columbus. 6 Sept. 2016. Lecture.

Stott, Rebecca. Darwin’s Ghosts: The Secret History of Evolution. New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2012. Print.

Wintering strategies of our endangered animals

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Over the past weeks we have seen that animals employ three strategies to survive our cold Northern hemisphere winters: migrate, hibernate or adapt. Many bird species migrate, amphibians and reptiles hibernate and mammals, in particular large ones, adapt. So today let’s look at how some  of the endangered or even extinct species survive(d) the winters in Ohio – only 5 more days to contribute to our campaign to purchase a new mobile cabinet for our endangered tetrapods, let’s keep them safe!

male Bachman's Warbler

male Bachman’s Warbler (Whatbird.com)

The Bachman’s Warbler, like most of today’s species in the family wood warblers, migrated south, in this case to Cuba. It is an example of how migratory birds face even more risks than their cousins who stay year-round in one place. Its populations probably declined dramatically as a result of habitat destruction both on the breeding and wintering grounds. The last confirmed breeding record of this species was in 1937, and it has not been reported since 1988.

 

Indiana bats in cave

Indiana bats cluster together and hibernate during winter in caves, occasionally in abandoned mines. For hibernation, they require cool, humid caves with stable temperatures, under 50° F but above freezing. Only a few caves within the range of the species (Eastern USA) have these conditions. To survive up to 6 months of hibernation they rely on their energy reserves in the form of fat. The stored fat is their only source of energy because insects are rare in the middle of winter. If bats are disturbed during hibernation and move around they use up more energy and may starve.

Hibernating Indiana bats in cave

Hibernating Indiana bats (Wikipedia)

The Allegheny woodrat is adapted to cold conditions: Its fur becomes slightly darker and longer and it caches food in small caves or rock crevices. They feed mainly on plant material which means that they need large piles of it as they eat about five percent of their weight daily. You can imagine that woodrats are busily preparing for the winter these days.

 

The Carolina Parakeet was rather unusual for a parrot species.

image_carolina_parakeet02First of all it was the only parrot species that ever occurred natively in the USA. Furthermore it did not migrate south in the winter but weathered the cold. This may explain why some of today’s introduced parrot species survive in the wild just fine. Did you know that the last two known parakeets, Lady Jane and Incas, lived together for thirty-two years in the Cincinnati Zoo, the same zoo the last Passenger Pigeon lived? Lady Jane died in 1917 and Incas, soon after, on February 21, 1918.

group of Eskimo Curlews

The Eskimo Curlew migrated to South America where it overwintered in wet pampas grasslands, intertidal and semi-desert areas. A long flight from the breeding grounds in the tundra of the Western Arctic.

The Passenger Pigeon established winter “roosting” sites in the forests in the southern US states, Arkansas to North Carolina south to the uplands of the Gulf Coast states. Birds timed their movements with the availability of food.

We hope this made you appreciate these species even more; please help us preserve their remains for future generations to study. Donate today!

Specimen Photo Shoot: Roll it Out Specimens

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Roll it Out: Specimen Photo Shoot

Curious what the extinct and highly endangered specimens we will be moving to the mobile cabinet look like? One of our student research assistants took detailed photos just for YOU. All of these specimens are considered irreplaceable and some being the last records of their species. Be sure to check out our campaign page for information on how to to support the collection and help us roll out the irreplaceable specimens represented from the photos below.

 

A research assistant shows off a tiger cub.

Chelsea Hothem, Student Research Assistant

PHOTOS BY: Chelsea Hothem, 2016

Tetrapod Collection: What Happens in a Collection?

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A collection is nothing without people who use it. Our collection sees constant use by students, artists, researchers, experts and more. We conduct tours, workshops, and projects within the collection, all involving people who desire to learn more about some animals and find these in our collections. None of this would be possible without a community around us, who want to learn and appreciate all the collection has to offer.

Help us maintain our specimens and check out our campaign! We are raising money for a new mobile cabinet for our endangered and extinct species. Please spread the word about our campaign and and donate today!

Enjoy photos of visitors to the tetrapods collection:

How can museum collections help us understand bird migration?

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Window-killed birds collected in downtown Columbus in spring 2013

Millions of birds migrate south every fall. You may have noticed some recent changes in your backyard bird community. Most of our summer residents have left by now, Tree Swallows and Eastern Bluebirds will be back next spring. Some birds will not succeed on their long journeys, because we have put up many obstacles for them to overcome, such as buildings with clear, shiny windows. Birds try to fly right through them. Thousands of volunteers like you pick up these window-killed birds and take them to their local natural history museum. We prepare them into specimen skins and preserve them for future research.

Window-killed birds collected in downtown Columbus in spring 2013

Window-killed birds collected in downtown Columbus in spring 2013

Over the years these specimens paint a picture of certain routes particular species take, the timing of their migration etc. We have learned that not all individuals of a species migrate at the same time, often young birds migrate later than adults, females differently from males.

To find out when to expect migrating birds in your area visit the Black Swamp Bird Observatory. We can learn so much from our museum bird skins and studies will help us make migration safer for today’s birds.

Sometimes birds get blown off track on their long journey and end up in an unusual location. With so many bird watchers today, these birds usually stir quite a bird watching frenzy. In the past some of them have ended up in our collection like this Magnificent Frigatebird that Milton Trautman collected in Morrow county, Ohio on October 2nd in 1967, almost 50 years ago.

Natural history museum across the country help with these efforts. Read about this student’s project “What can we learn from 30+ years of bird migration data?” at the Field Museum in Chicago.

Before you get involved you may want to read this testimony from volunteers at the Field Museum who collected and prepared many of the specimens for the above study.

Watch this video:

video

Where’s Waldo?

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While reading our “Meet the Staff” post, you probably saw that the term “geo-referencing” came up a number of times. What does geo-referencing mean and what purpose does it serve in a museum? It’s a fair question since geo-referencing isn’t exactly an everyday activity, yet it plays an important role in the digitization of our collection.

Here’s the scenario: you’re sitting at home and hear a very loud smack. You go to see what happened, and find a bird has slammed right into your window. The bird is dead but you know a place where it can live on forever, the Museum of Biological Diversity’s Tetrapod Collection. You put the body in a freezer bag and take it over to the collection in order to donate it. This is known as salvaging and the whole process begins with that one action. If you have more questions there is a whole webpage devoted to the contribution of specimens to the Tetrapod Collection.

After our preparation lab assistants prepare a bird, it is given a label, a number, and is entered into the database. In the database we enter in the name of the collector, when it was collected, the species name, and the location. However, we can’t simply just put an address in for the location, we need to be much more thorough than that. We use latitude and longitude in order to map out points where our specimens were found. It helps build a species list of an area and maintain consistency when landmarks are removed or names are changed. In short, it reduces the uncertainty of a location.

Having a specimen with latitude and longitudinal points clears up some of the following questions: For instance, a bird crashed into your window. What side of the house did the bird hit? Was it the north side, or was it the east side? How far from the house was it? Two feet? Maybe three? Sometimes a person can’t really give us information that is too specific, but we can still work with a general location given with a specimen. We’ll simply find the area that the specimen was found so we can use varying degrees of uncertainty that depend on the specificity of the locality provided.

Geo-referencing is a common practice among scientists and research collections such as ours. Thanks to modern technology, we now have the ability to more accurately map out the presence of a particular species and assess the population’s health with more certainty. There are many times when scientific discoveries or conservation efforts rely on citizen scientists such as you making an interest in what we as a scientific institution do. Contributing a deceased specimen to a museum like ours counts as one of those times.

Species of December: Snowy Owl

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When choosing a species for the month of December, an obvious choice came to mind: Reindeer. However, writing about the Reindeer would be supporting a Christmas cliché and not everyone celebrates the holidays in the same way. So I decided to choose an animal that better represents the advent of winter and the calming beauty that this time of the year brings.

With a wingspan of about five feet, the Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus) is a beautiful and iconic bird that is not often seen around Ohio. During the summer, they can only be found above the Arctic Circle where they hunt prey such as ptarmigan, waterfowl, and lemmings. The only time you are likely to see one of these owls is during the winter when they often move south to northern states of the U.S. such as Ohio, New York, and Colorado. We have a few Snowy Owl specimens here in the museum, all of which have been collected in Ohio. Among them is the almost famous Snowy Owl from Hardin County in 2012. You may have seen this owl yourself since it stayed in place for several weeks or read about it in the Columbus Dispatch.

The Snowy Owl

One of the mounted Snowy Owls from our collection

Unlike most owls, Snowys, as birders lovingly refer to them, are diurnal (meaning that they’re active during the day. The Arctic Circle has 24-hour sunlight during the summer, and these birds have adapted to such conditions. Because these owls live in very cold temperatures, they have developed a bulky body with dense feathering especially on their legs; thus, these birds are the heaviest owls in North America. Unlike most owl species, Snowy Owls nest on the ground and have a tendency to sit in one place for hours on end to the point where they can become invisible against a snowy backdrop. Male Snowy Owls have a very unique courtship that involves flapping their wings in a “V” formation, and dropping a prey item in front of the female for her consumption. While they appear to be peaceful and calm, Snowy Owls will vigorously defend their territory against other species and some individuals have even been recorded attacking Arctic Wolves. To learn more about an owl’s biology one can search for pellets that these birds regurgitate which contain leftovers of the last meal, such as bones, hair and teeth. Learn more about dissecting owl pellets through this video. If you’d like to learn more general facts about Snowy Owls, feel free to visit the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s page on them.

Snowy Owl Talons

As you can see, Snowy Owls have feet that have a thick covering of feathers to help shield them from very cold temperatures

One of the Snowy Owl’s more remarkable feats is that it has been recorded to be able to hunt up to 1,600 lemmings in a single year. In an environment as barren as the Arctic Tundra, one would think that at this rate of hunting, the lemming population would be seriously affected. Yet scientists have never been able to conclusively prove the link between heavy predation of aerial predators such as the Snowy Owl, and the lemmings’ population fluctuation. However, a recent study by Therrien et. al (2014) shows, for the first time, that relentless predation by aerial predators can play an important role in the cyclic depression in lemming population during the warmer periods on the tundra. The study also found that breeding populations of arctic avian predators increased vastly as a result of high lemming population densities. And it is in those years of abundance that young Snowy Owls often move far south in search of food. This fall Snowy Owls have already been sighted as far south as Illinois.

Whether you celebrate any of the winter holidays or enjoy the oncoming winter, the Snowy Owl is a beautiful bird whose presence can add to the spirit of the season and the tranquility this time of year brings.

From all of us at the Tetrapod Collection, we wish you a very Happy Holiday Season!

 

References

Decker, Theodore. “Snowy Owl on ‘Dispatch’ Front Page Found Dead.” Columbus Dispatch 13 Jan. 2012

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/01/13/snowy-owl-starved-to-death-bird-expert-says.html

“Snowy Owl.”, Life History, All About Birds. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Snowy_Owl/lifehistory

Therrien, J. F., Gauthier G., Korpimaki E. 2014 Predation Pressure by Avian Predators Suggests Summer Limitation of Small-mammal Populations in the Canadian Arctic. Ecology 95, 56-67. http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/13-0458.1

 

Species of September: American White Pelican

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Anyone who has walked through or even glanced into the Tetrapod Collection will have surely seen the taxidermy mount of an American White Pelican standing in the corner of the room. It truly is a charismatic bird.

taxidermy mount of an American White Pelican

Taxidermy mount of an American White Pelican

The American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) is one of the largest birds in North America with an average wingspan of 9 feet. That’s even more impressive than the Bald Eagle’s 6-7 foot wingspan. During the summer breeding months, American White Pelicans flock to the Northern Great Plains of the U.S. and the southern parts of Canada. After breeding season, they migrate across the U.S. to their wintering grounds in the Gulf of Mexico and along the Southern U.S./Mexican coastline. During migration, they may be seen resting and feeding right here in Ohio, in particular at some of the larger lakes in the state.

American White Pelican sightings close to Columbus

Sightings (as reported on ebird) of American White Pelicans close to Columbus within the last 10 years

Like all individuals of the eight living pelican species (two of which, the White and the Brown Pelican, occur in North America), the American White Pelican has the distinctive throat pouch that is used to scoop up fish while feeding. Due to their large size, American White Pelicans can’t dive from the air for fish like other fish-eating species such as the Belted Kingfisher; instead they swim on the water’s surface and dip their bills into the water to scoop up fish. The pelicans will then tip their heads to drain out the water and swallow only the fish. To find out more general facts about these birds, visit The Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

As if the pelican’s beak wasn’t peculiar enough, scientists now say it may be used to tell males and females apart. In many birds, distinguishing males and females is easy since males have colorful and extravagant plumage features. When a male and female of a species look different in some way, it is known as a sexual dimorphism. However, there are some species of birds, such as the American White Pelican, where males and females have very similar plumage making distinguishing the different males and females difficult. However, research done by Brian Dorr et. al (2005) shows that male American White Pelicans have significantly longer bills than females. The researchers measured the culmen, the area of a bird’s beak that stretches from where the beak’s base meets the feathers to the end, of 188 American White Pelican specimens that were collected in Mississippi and Louisiana. Dorr et al’s research shows that measuring culmen length can be used to determine the sex of American White Pelicans.

Measuring the beak length of an American White Pelican

Measuring the beak length of our American White Pelican

So, can we use this method to at least determine our pelican’s sex? I went to work with a metric ruler and measured the culmen to a length of 280 mm. According to the study, a culmen length of ≥310 mm indicates a male and ≤309 mm indicates a female. Thus our specimen is most likely a female.

This is a great example of how research on museum specimens can help with identifying individuals in the wild. In our case, it helped with adding a piece of information to an old, well-preserved specimen and making it more valuable to the scientific community.

 

 

 

 

References

“American White Pelican.” Identification, All About Birds. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, n.d. Web. 26 Aug. 2015. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_White_Pelican/id

Dorr B., King D.T., Harrel J.B., Gerard P., and Spalding M.G. 2005 The Use of Culmen Length to Determine Sex of the American White Pelican. The Waterbird Society 28, 102-106. BioOne. http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1675/1524 4695(2005)28[102:TUOCLT]2.0.CO;2

Observations from the Freshman-Brought to you by Raymond

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If I said that I had planned to work at The Ohio State University’s Museum of Biological Diversity from the beginning of my college career, I’d be lying. If I said that I was aware of the museum’s existence before last October, I’d still be lying (I know. I’m just the worst).

If I were to spin a yarn about how I first got started at the museum, it would begin last semester when I was frantically searching for an undergraduate research position. As a zoology major entering my third year of college, I thought to myself, I should probably start getting zoology work related experiences to put on my resume and undergraduate research seemed the most appealing. The problem is that Sasquatch is easier to find than a professor doing zoology-related research and who is looking for an undergraduate to participate. So after much searching, emailing, crying, etc… I asked the undergraduate research office where I could go to find said professors looking for undergraduate workers. They replied that most of researchers could be found, or have an office at the University’s Museum of Biological Diversity.

Upon hearing this, my initial thought was, “We have a Museum of Biological Diversity?” My second thought was, “We have a Museum of Biological Diversity and I’m just hearing about this now?”  I took a bus out to Carmack Corner, walked up a dirt road and found this place on the very edge of the University’s land. When I first discovered the museum, I was so incredibly intrigued and excited about what could be inside. Upon further investigation however, I was incredibly disappointed to see it wasn’t an “actual” museum but more akin to the warehouse from the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

A picture of OSU's Museum of Biological Diversity. A very plain looking brick building.

There is the building in all its glory. When I say that this museum is out of the way, I mean it is really at the far western end of campus.

It wasn’t until the beginning of this semester that I had heard about the museum’s annual open house. I had been told that this is the one day of the year that the museum resembles the general public’s view of what an actual museum rather than a warehouse, so I decided to attend. The open house was a wonderful experience for a zoology major, such as myself. After entering the building, I was soon surrounded by specimens of exotic and colorful birds and skeletons from a wide variety of different animals. After seeing all this awesome stuff, I thought to myself, “Gosh wouldn’t it be just swell to work/intern/volunteer here?” So I had met with the curator, Dr. Angelika Nelson, and began to volunteer my time labeling and organizing specimens in the museum’s Tetrapod collection.

So it’s been a little over a month since I started at the museum (I refer to myself as a freshman for a reason) and now I have a chance to really look back and reflect on what I’ve done so far. All that I’ve really done (again, I’ve only been here a month) is print labels, organize loans, do some geo-referencing and maybe (if I should be so lucky) count how many 100-year old hummingbirds we have in our collection. Make no mistake; museum work is not for everybody. At times it can seem like long, tedious and mind-numbingly boring work.

But I love every minute of it.

I’m sure that if the average person were to come to the museum and try to do what it is that we do there, they’d either recoil in disgust or fall asleep from boredom. And that’s fine, it’s not everybody’s cup of tea. For me however, working at the museum is one of the greatest jobs I’ve ever had. Animals, in general, just wholly fascinate me and I grew up watching the old Animal Planet. When I printed labels for specimen cabinets, I got to look at some of the most exotic and unique bird species I’ve ever seen. Not to mention that I got to touch three of the endangered bird species the Tetrapod collection possess: an Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, a Passenger Pigeon and a Carolina Parakeet (I can die happy now). Working there is basically nirvana for a guy like me.

A head on picture of the Tetrapod Collection's Ivory Billed Woodpeckers.

Not going to lie… These are the most exciting specimens I have seen so far.

While working at the museum is incredibly fascinating and fun, I’d be lying (again) if I said there was only one reason why I love it there. Going into the museum and doing all this science-related work makes me feel like I’m getting closer to actually being a zoologist. For anyone who is a zoology major at OSU, I don’t need to tell you how difficult the major program is. I spent the first two years of college trying my absolute hardest just to get through the math requirements (don’t even get me started on that ungodly chemistry program). So working here (along with actually doing major courses) makes me feel as though I’m becoming a “big kid” in my field.

I’ve often said that the greatest decision that I ever made was joining the Boy Scouts. However, I think I may have topped myself by choosing to work at this museum. I love the work that I do in the Tetrapod collection and it helps me feel as though I’m actually doing something worthwhile with my time. If you’ve enjoyed reading about my experiences, then you’re in luck. My latest responsibility for the museum is to write more of these blog posts, so the fun never has to end. Until next time dear reader.

Raymond is one of our newest volunteers in the Tetrapod Collection who will be interning with us this coming fall. His current projects here included working with our amphibian and reptile collection.

This is the season ..

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.. for Christmas bird counts! Every year thousands of volunteers walk the neighborhoods in cities, visit parks, woodlands and fields to identify and count birds. They are citizen scientists for a day and become part of the longest running bird survey organized by the Audubon society. The collected data are used by scientists to investigate trends in bird populations and thus provide crucial information for the conservation of today’s common birds which may be in decline tomorrow.

This year marks the 115th Christmas Bird Count and counts take place Dec 14, 2014 to January 5, 2015. Given the large scale of the project local organizers find volunteers and compile the collected data. There is still time for you to find a Christmas bird count near you on this online map. On Sunday Dec 14th several groups counted birds in the Columbus circle:

Map of Columbus Christmas Bird Count

You can participate as little or as much time as you want—you decide! The hardcore members of many groups though meet at the first daylight or even before to listen for owls and do not stop until the sun has set and the last light faded.

This year, with a group of friends and colleagues, I counted birds on west campus. We started the day at the north end of OSU Waterman farm. We scanned the open fields for sparrows and potential Horned Larks or even Snow Buntings which all had been reported from the area in years past but not this time.

Sign for Waterman Farm

Flocks of Rock Pigeons greeted us at the farm buildings:

Rock Pigeons at Waterman Farm

A brush pile and the long line of wind-breaking trees provided shelter for a good variety (6 species!) of sparrow species.

brush pile at Waterman Farmtree-line at Waterman Farm

For a full list of the 34 species seen during the day visit ebird. We saw some additional birds at the OSU west campus woodlot.